Editors Reads Verdict
One of the boldest American novels of the 1960s — Updike's present-tense narration puts us inside Rabbit's body and his irresponsibility with equal intimacy. A novel about the gap between the promise of American youth and the trap of American adulthood.
What We Loved
- The present-tense narration creates a kinetic immediacy that few American novels have matched
- Rabbit's irresponsibility is rendered without excuse or condemnation — Updike trusts the reader to hold the complexity
- The Pennsylvania small-town setting — its textures, its claustrophobia, its social hierarchies — is rendered with documentary precision
Minor Drawbacks
- Rabbit's treatment of Janice and Ruth will test the sympathy of many readers — Updike does not soften it
- The novel's refusal of resolution is appropriate but demanding for readers expecting conventional moral reckoning
Key Takeaways
- → The athlete who peaked at eighteen carries that peak as a wound — the present is always a diminishment of a remembered past
- → Running is not cowardice but a form of truthfulness — Rabbit knows the life he is in is wrong even if he cannot name what would be right
- → The American promise of mobility and reinvention collides with the American reality of responsibility and staying
| Author | John Updike |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Fawcett |
| Pages | 307 |
| Published | January 1, 1960 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction, American Literature |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Literary fiction readers interested in postwar American life and the origins of the suburban malaise novel, and Updike readers beginning the Rabbit tetralogy. |
The Run
Harry Angstrom is playing basketball with some kids in an alley when it comes over him: the sense of his own diminishment, the gap between what he was — the best player Brewer High had seen in a decade — and what he is. He drives home. His wife Janice is drunk in front of the television. He packs a bag and drives south.
Updike narrates Rabbit, Run almost entirely in the present tense — an unusual choice in 1960, still unusual now. The effect is to trap the reader in Rabbit’s body, in his immediate sensory experience, in the present moment that is all he seems capable of inhabiting. The novel has the rhythm of flight: urgent, restless, unable to hold still.
The Trap
Rabbit does not escape. He moves between his wife, a minister named Eccles who is trying to reconcile them, and Ruth, a woman in Brewer with whom he has an affair. The world will not let him run for long. Janice gives birth, then drowns the baby in a bathtub. The baby is not Rabbit’s fault and is Rabbit’s fault. He runs again.
Rabbit, Run is the first of four novels following Harry Angstrom across four decades: Rabbit Redux (1971), Rabbit Is Rich (1981), and Rabbit at Rest (1990). Together they form one of the major sustained portraits in American fiction. The first novel is the most kinetic and the least forgiving.
Our rating: 4.1/5 — One of the essential American novels of the 20th century; Rabbit’s run is the run of an entire culture.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Rabbit, Run" about?
Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom, 26, was a high school basketball star in Mount Judge, Pennsylvania. Now he works demonstrating a kitchen gadget and goes home to a pregnant, alcoholic wife. One spring afternoon he gets in the car and drives south, not quite sure why. Updike's first Rabbit novel and one of the founding documents of postwar American restlessness.
Who should read "Rabbit, Run"?
Literary fiction readers interested in postwar American life and the origins of the suburban malaise novel, and Updike readers beginning the Rabbit tetralogy.
What are the key takeaways from "Rabbit, Run"?
The athlete who peaked at eighteen carries that peak as a wound — the present is always a diminishment of a remembered past Running is not cowardice but a form of truthfulness — Rabbit knows the life he is in is wrong even if he cannot name what would be right The American promise of mobility and reinvention collides with the American reality of responsibility and staying
Is "Rabbit, Run" worth reading?
One of the boldest American novels of the 1960s — Updike's present-tense narration puts us inside Rabbit's body and his irresponsibility with equal intimacy. A novel about the gap between the promise of American youth and the trap of American adulthood.
Ready to Read Rabbit, Run?
Check the current price on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Prices and availability are subject to change. See Amazon for current price.
Review last updated: